Fish Food

IT Specialists Are Crucial to Project Success

IT is a blanket term. Here’s why you’re better off hiring a team of specialists.

There’s a tendency for companies to gravitate towards IT candidates who can fill multiple roles. It means less work – at least for the hiring team – less salary and benefits, and the perception is a tech savvy person should be able to do it all. Is this really the best approach to IT projects?

The argument against specialists

Specialists cost more. Aside from recruiting and hiring multiple people rather than just one, specialists tend to expect higher salaries than generalists. These higher rates can be traced back to their educational and experiential background, along with the demand for specialized services.

Another factor is the perception that specialists aren’t as capable as generalists. In some cases, this may be linked to a fear of committing to a limited skill set. Specialists also tend to be viewed by HR departments as not having a broad enough outlook to handle the diverse challenges of an evolving company.

The case for specialists

Why does a person learn to write code rather than focusing on networking? Passion! IT is a passion industry. Software engineers love to write code, but they might find networking a bland necessity if assigned such a task.

Passion leads to curiosity, which promotes the evolution of skills. Take for example, a doctor of internal medicine as compared to a hepatologist. While the former is going to offer a wonderful expertise on how the internal organs of the body work together, they’re probably not as in tune with the latest treatments for liver disease as a hepatologist.

In a pinch, a software engineer might be able to provide insights, even a solution to networking needs, but are their answers going to be as functional as a networking specialist’s? Probably not.

Social media. Thanks to the success of Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and a host of other platforms, more and more businesses are developing their own social media sites. These sites allow marketers to target their audiences with greater precision and control. Social media specialists’ tasks can range from maximizing benefits from existing platforms, to creating a customized site for the company.

App experts. There are code writers who can create apps, and then there are app-code writers. As tablets and phones started replacing laptops and PCs, app writers have become one of the fastest growing vocations in tech.

Cloud specialists. Total migration to the cloud is inevitable – cloud-based computing comes with its own unique set of challenges. Cloud computing specialists not only know how to fulling exploit the potential of the cloud, they’re well-versed in the challenges it presents.

Specialists recruiting simplified

Of course, the downside of all this is it means more decisions, vetting, and recruiting. Or does it?